ZARA was fined for selling substandard products and passing off as qualified products

China Economic Network Beijing, December 14, 2019 Recently, a reporter from China Economic Network checked in Tianyan that ZARA Affiliated Company Sala Garment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was fined about 24,200 yuan by the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, and confiscated about 8,600 yuan of illegal gains.

According to the Administrative Penalty Decision Of the Shanghai Municipal Supervision Office [2021] No. 322021000333, the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Supervision and Administration found that the party, Sala Garment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., was suspected of selling clothing with unqualified products passing off as qualified products during the law enforcement inspection, and the case was approved on August 11, 2021. After investigation, the pants sold by the parties with the numbers 8574/415/800, 8281/487/800 and 9252/405/800 were inspected by the Shanghai Institute of Quality Supervision and Inspection Technology according to the product explicit standard FZ/T 81007-2012 "Single and Clip Clothing", and the friction color fastness/(grade) items did not meet the standard requirements and were judged to be unqualified. From April to May 2021, the parties purchased a total of 64 pairs of the above three types of unqualified pants, all of which have been sold and have no inventory. The total value of the above-mentioned products is 16136 yuan, and the illegal income is 8593.03 yuan.

In accordance with article 50 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau ordered the parties concerned to stop selling clothing that passed off unqualified products as qualified products; imposed a fine of 24,204 yuan for illegally selling 1.5 times the value of the products; confiscated 8,593.03 yuan of illegal gains, and fined a total of 32,797.03 yuan.

It is worth mentioning that another company of ZARA, Aites Asia Pacific Enterprise Management Co., Ltd., was fined about 161,200 yuan for these three pants. Up to now, ZARA affiliates and hundreds of branches have been administratively punished more than 40 times for product quality problems.

Through the inquiry of the reporter of China Economic Network, it was found that Sara Apparel (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZARA HOLDING B.V., and Aites Asia Pacific Enterprise Management Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZARA ASIA LIMITED.

Article 39 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that sellers shall not dop or adulterate products when selling products, shall not use false products to be genuine or shoddy, and shall not pass off unqualified products as qualified products.

Article 50 of the "Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates: Whoever adulterates or adulterates a product, uses falsehood to be genuine, or uses a shoddy product to pass off as a qualified product, shall be ordered to stop production and sales, confiscate the illegally produced or sold products, and impose a fine of not less than 50 percent but not more than three times the value of the illegally produced or sold products;